Saudi Oger workers protest unpaid wages

Hundreds of Saudi Oger employees protesting salaries unpaid for over seven months were dispersed on Saturday by police in Jeddah, Arab News reported.

The workers reportedly caused traffic disruptions in northern Jeddah and shut down a petrol station as part of the protest.

Saudi Oger services have been suspended for violating the Wage Protection Law, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, media director at the Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s Makkah branch, said in a previous statement.

Several visits have been made to the contractor to finalize the workers’ payments, Al-Ghamdi added, confirming that standard fines and penalties have been imposed upon Saudi Oger for violating labor laws.

Last month, 150 Saudi Oger employees set fire to an unspecified number of company buses and heavy vehicles at the contractor’s Jeddah office, local media reported.

In the same week, around 150 workers from another construction company gathered in protest and damaged company vehicles in Makkah.

Saudi Arabia’s construction sector has been hard-hit by a slowdown in the wake of falling oil prices. Public spending cutbacks have resulted in several projects being canceled or scaled down, and payments postponed.